1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to teleconferencing, particularly to establishing a teleconference over a telephony network.
2. Description of Related Art
Teleconferencing involves multiple users connected to the same communication channel, allowing each user to simultaneously talk to each other. A typical teleconference involves multiple participants who each speak on their own communication device such as a phone. In this situation, a teleconference is initiated by a first user establishing a first communication channel, such as a phone call, with a second user. Once the first communication channel is established between the first and second users, the first user then establishes a second communication channel with a third user. Once the second communication channel is established, the first and second communication channels are bridged, whereby all three users can talk to each other.
A teleconference can also be established using a teleconferencing service. The teleconferencing service establishes a central communication channel. Participants call a number and are directly connected to the central communication channel. The central communication channel is pre-scheduled and each participant to the teleconference is notified prior to the teleconference as to the time of the teleconference and what phone number to dial to join.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,560 purportedly discloses a wireless network with a group call capability. According to its abstract, the wireless network includes a mobile switching center connected to a plurality of base stations each serving a portion of the wireless network and communicating with mobile stations on a plurality of channels. Each base station allocates one of the channels for the group call. Each mobile station in the group sends an acknowledgement of the group call to the base station serving the area where the mobile station is located. Each base station that did not receive an acknowledgement frees the allocated channel for use in other calls. This patent is primarily directed to the underlying technology for overcoming the drawbacks of prior art systems with respect message traffic and system resources. It does not significantly improve user experience in connection with establishing a group call.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0068029 purportedly discloses a user invoked directed outdial method and apparatus. According to a representative flow diagram its disclosure, the process purportedly includes steps wherein a caller calls into a directed outdial system, the caller identifies third parties to be called, the outdial system makes multiple outbound calls to third parties, the outdial system detects which called parties answer their call, the outdial system can further obtain specific information associated with each called party by asking questions and requesting each called party to answer the questions, the outdial system can obtain specific information associated with each called party from the caller or from a database, the outdial system can treat each called party individually based on the information associated with each called party, and connects the initial caller and the called parties in a conference call. A problem with this method is that a phone call invitation to a real time teleconference can be intrusive, particularly if the targeted participant is busy, or does not want to be disturbed at the time the invitation was received.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved teleconferencing process that invites participants in non-intrusive manner, via a single point.